Wind Energy – Taiwan
Taiwan Offshore Wind Round 3.3 draft regulations to be delayed.
According to NOWnews the auction rules will not be announced by the end of June.
MoEA Vice Minister Lai Chien-Hsin is indirectly quoted saying it will have to wait. Minister Kuo had initially announced that the plan would move forward in May or June this year, but the draft rules were put on hold after Executive Yuan Premier Cho‘s review.
It’s sadly a common practice since 2018 to start announcements and then delay them. This time, discussions had quite evolved, while concerns remained.
Vice Minister Lai also stressed that energy policy is an overarching matter for the (DPP) government (since 2016).
New regular review system
Ironically, this news emerged at the same time that Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs introduced a new regular review system to speed up the approval process for offshore wind projects.
The Ministry convened the Energy Administration and Industrial Development Bureau to jointly reform the approval process, introducing measures such as joint reviews, rolling submissions, regular bi-weekly meetings, and pre-screening, it said.
For industrial relevance reviews on potential sites, the two agencies will now merge the previous two-stage process into a joint mechanism, conducting rolling reviews every two weeks to improve efficiency, according to a statement.
The standard five-stage review process has been significantly shortened, MOEA added. Initial document checks will now take under five days, down from 6–11 days.
Previously, document supplementation took 24–60 days; this will now be cut to 5–7 days with advance guidance from the Industrial Development Bureau.
Meeting scheduling and record issuance will also be reduced to within 14 days, down from up to 28. The total review period will now take 24–26 days, a reduction of 27–73 days, added officials.
The Industrial Development Bureau will publish the updated approval flowcharts and document requirements to support developers and local supply chain participants, the statement said.
For power-related permits such as establishment, construction, and licensing, the Energy Administration will continue monthly reviews using a pre-screening model.
Deputy Director Wu Chih-Wei of the Energy Administration said the ministry is committed to enhancing transparency, setting clear standards, and reducing delays for developers who submit complete applications on time.
The goal is to shorten project timelines and lower default risks across Taiwan’s offshore wind programme.
Incidentally, both news stories are unrelated. The industry has long been asking for a more integrated process (one-stop shop) and faster review.
